So I'm driving home from NY in my BMW. Something just doesn't feel right. Every once in a while the car "feels" like it's making a grinding noise at the wheel level. Almost like when you drive on those ground up asphalt roads just before they pave. Then it would go away. I would also feel additional drag on the car. Well, just now I drove to Aurora and it happened again. I checked the tires. The rears need to be replaced, but nothing horrible. I checked lug nuts, A-OK. No shiver in the steering wheel (i.e. front end isues). I finally get to the left rear wheel and I can feel the heat coming off the thing. I touch the wheel and the damn thing is too hot to touch. Do I have a whacked out brake situation going on here? I wonder if my caliper is engaging while I'm driving? Ideas?

 

Some obvious things to check.

Do you use the emergency brake? It may be binding and not releasing when you release the lever or pedal.

On my Accord just a few months ago i had a bad caliper. It seized and wouldn't open. Warped my rotor silly.

Wheel bearing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ubetit
Some obvious things to check.

Do you use the emergency brake? It

 

Yes, I do use the E-Brake everytime I get out of the car. I wonder. It seems to be on and off though. Weird.

 

When I had my shop, I had a 5 series BMW do exactly what you described. We put rear calipers pads and rotors on it and the car came back the next day with the same problem. Turned out the ABS computer was faulty (no codes) and was making the abs pump keep uneven brake line presure to each side on the rear. This would confuse the computer even more and then It would pulse one of the rear brakes because the speed sensor one one side was pick up a different rotational speed. This might be the noise you hear. I know it sounds way out there, but a new abs computer fixed it. I ate the cost of it to keep the customer happy and the BMW dealer made me grab my ankles for the diagnosis since the tools for ABS diagnosis was still only at the dealership level at the time.

Or, could be a broken pad which I have seen before also.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by david1
When I had my shop, I had a 5 series BMW do exactly what you described. We put rear calipers pads and rotors on it and the car came back the next day with the same problem.

 

I agree Carmen; you need to really check out the brake situation first. What would be great would be if you have time to pop the wheel off and inspect the pad thickness before you take it to the dealer or repair shop. What I would want to see is a comparison in pad thickness from the side of the car that is the problem compared to the other side.

I think it would be a safe assumption to assume the pads were the same thickness side to side when they were installed, so if you see the hot side has dramatically thinner pads you know right away that it is brake related somehow. If you take it to the shop and they start taking things apart you may very well loose the opportunity to inspect the pads as they are wearing on the vehicle.

Good luck, keep us posted. If not brakes I'm thinking some type of wheel bearing.

 

BMW Roadside Assistance towed it away to the dealer earlier. They'll look at it tomorrow.

 

hope everything goes smoothly

in the meantime, snag the civic

 

You shouldn't rule out wheel bearing just yet, either.